Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Samir Weslati has taken down the
wooden door of his Tunisian home and fitted an iron replacement
along with three locks, just to make sure no one can force their
way in. Inside, he’s stockpiled food, diapers and milk.

“Gangs and thieves are trying to exploit the lack of
security and government control,” said Weslati, a 40-year-old
father-of-two who’s a professor at an institute in Beja, 100
kilometers (62 miles) west of Tunis. “I fear for my family.”

Street crime is exacerbating the security challenges facing
Mehdi Jomaa, who became caretaker prime minister last month
after Islamists and liberal secularists overcame differences to
agree on a new constitution that protects religious freedoms and
grants men and women equality. The two-year tussle saw political
assassinations and the growing influence of al-Qaeda militants,
unrest that the World Bank says is keeping economic growth well
below potential.

“Tunisia has accomplished the toughest and hardest part of
the transition to democracy,” said Khalil al-Anani, senior
fellow at the Washington-based Middle East Institute.
“Nonetheless, the progress in regard to Tunisia’s first
constitution after the 2011 uprising shouldn’t blind us from
considering other challenges facing the country.”

‘Loss of Confidence’

The time taken to approve a new constitution led to “an
increasing loss of confidence in the whole political class and
more violence,” said Hichem Guerfali, director of Tunis-based
market research company 3C Etudes, citing results of about 20
months of polls by his firm.

Those surveys illustrate the depth of public apprehension.
A December poll showed about a third of Tunisians said they
missed former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who fled after
being ousted in 2011. Three-quarters of them cited worsening
security as the cause of their nostalgia, with 62 percent
identifying shrinking living standards and 6.4 percent
unemployment.

The World Bank said this month the political and security
challenges of last year are weighing on the economy, even as it
predicted growth will rise to 3 percent this year from 2.6
percent in 2013. Exports and tourism declined or stagnated,
while joblessness is 15.7 percent and inflation 5.8 percent.

According to the Tunisian National Institute of Statistics,
in the five years before the revolution, average annual growth
was about 4.5 percent, inflation stood near 4.1 percent and
unemployment was 14.2 percent.

Favorable Reaction

Investors have reacted positively to the new constitution
because it points to “some kind of reconciliation within the
political process” that bodes well for stability, said William
Jackson, emerging-markets economist at Capital Economics in
London.

The yield on government bonds fell to the lowest in a year
this week. The political compromise sets Tunisia, where the Arab
Spring began, apart from Egypt, Libya and Syria.

Violence, or the fear of it, has been good for Nabil
Ghanmi, manager of N.G Multimedia, a Tunis-based technology
company that sells surveillance cameras and alarms.

“Before the revolution, we were working with big
institutions,” he said. “Now, 60 percent of our business is
with normal people -- businessmen and the middle class.” His
profit doubled since 2011, he said, declining to give figures.

Gun Battles

Tunisia is also confronting militant Islamist groups. Seven
militants and a policeman died in a gun battle near Tunis on
Feb. 4, the Interior Ministry told the state-run news agency,
TAP. One of the men, named as Kamel Gadhgadhi by Mosaique FM
radio, was linked to last year’s assassinations of liberal
opposition leaders Chokri Beleid and Mohamed Brahmi, whose
killings triggered the fall of two Islamist-led governments last
year.

“Security is the primary concern of all Tunisians,” said
Sofiane Ben Farhat, a Tunisian journalist who says he’s among
the media and political figures whose lives are in danger. He
said despite installing surveillance cameras in his house and
hiring security guards, he was robbed in November. Then last
weekend, he was beaten with sticks outside a hotel in the
country’s northeast.

“My life has changed completely,” Ben Farhat said before
the beating. “I can no longer go out with family and friends.”

The interim government “faces a heavy legacy,” said
political analyst Yousef Weslati, who’s not related to the Beja
professor. “They can’t do a lot since they don’t have a magic
wand,” and their main task will be to guide Tunisia to national
elections later this year, he said.

While Islam is the state religion, the new charter protects
freedom of belief. In a major concession by Ennahdha, which led
the government from November 2011 until January, Sharia law
isn’t recognized as the main source of legislation.

For Samir Weslati, the constitution and new government are
providing “a dose of oxygen that came at exactly the right
moment.” Still he says, “I have a serious fear the worst is
coming.”